New Hampshire man survives lightning strike

A Manchester man hit by lightning at a campground over the holiday weekend said he’s lucky to be alive.

Phil Deberardinis was at a campground in Tamworth when he was hit by lightning just after 8 p.m. Sunday.

"I never heard anything as loud as that,” he said.

Deberardinis was one of two people hit by lightning at the campground. Another victim, a 14-year-old, spent several hours in a hospital for observation but was released early Monday morning.

"All of a sudden, I had one leg on one side of the picnic bench, and the other side, I was making a salad, and an unbelievable bang and a flash of light came,” Deberardinis said. "I had this pain and burning in both my legs, and I seen an arc. So then that was it. And it was over."

The damage could be seen at the campground, where electricity split a tree in half.

Deberardinis said he’s sore today, but he’s lucky to be alive. He joked that he should buy a lottery ticket.

"They say it's a 1 and 1 million shot,” he said.

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